Methyl diazoacetate, reaction with

Over the last few years it has become clear that rhodium(II) acetate is more effective than the copper catalysts in generating cyclopropenes.12 126 As shown in Scheme 28,12S a range of functionality, including terminal alkynes, can be tolerated in the reaction with methyl diazoacetate. Reactions with phenyl-acetylene and ethoxyacetylene were unsuccessful, however, because the alkyne polymerized under the reaction conditions. 

Alkylation of acetylacctone chelates is generally unsuccessful, but carbon—methylene bonds can be formed by chloromethylation, reaction with ethyl diazoacetate,reaction with thioacetals (equations 64, 65 and 66) and by the Mannich reaction (Scheme 73). The Mannich base can be quatemized with methyl iodide and converted by cyanide ion into a cyanomethyl-substituted chelate. 

Since 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of diazomethane are HOMO (diazomethane)-LUMO (dipolarophile) controlled, enamines and ynamines with their high LUMO energies do not react (79JA3647). However, introduction of carbonyl functions into diazomethane makes the reaction feasible in these cases. Thus methyl diazoacetate and 1-diethylaminopropyne furnished the aminopyrazole (620) in high yield. 

Diverging results have been reported for the carbenoid reaction between alkyl diazoacetates and silyl enol ethers 49a-c. Whereas Reissig and coworkers 60) observed successful cyclopropanation with methyl diazoacetate/Cu(acac)2, Le Goaller and Pierre, in a note without experimental details u8), reported the isolation of 4-oxo-carboxylic esters for the copper-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate. According to this communication, both cyclopropane and ring-opened y-keto ester are obtained from 49 c but the cyclopropane suffers ring-opening under the reaction conditions. 

As it is known from experience that the metal carbenes operating in most catalyzed reactions of diazo compounds are electrophilic species, it comes as no surprise that only a few examples of efficient catalyzed cyclopropanation of electron-poor alkeiies exist. One of those examples is the copper-catalyzed cyclopropanation of methyl vinyl ketone with ethyl diazoacetate 140), contrasting with the 2-pyrazoline formation in the purely thermal reaction (for failures to obtain cyclopropanes by copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazoesters, see Table VIII in Ref. 6). 

Under the catalytic action of Rh2(OAc)4, formation of a propargylic ether from a terminal alkyne (229, R1=H) is preferred as long as no steric hindrance by the adjacent group is felt162,218>. Otherwise, cyclopropenation may become the dominant reaction path [e.g. 229 (R1 = H, R2 = R3 = Me) and methyl diazoacetate 56% of cyclopropene, 36% of propargylic ether162)], in contrast to the situation with allylic alcohols, where O/H insertion is rather insensitive to steric influences. 

Contrary to P-lactams, N/H insertion is only a minor process in the copper-catalyzed reaction between 2-pyrrolidinone and methyl diazoacetate. With pyrro-lidine-2-thione, this process does not take place at all. For 2-piperidinone, N/H insertion seems to be easier, but once again, the corresponding thione fails to produce such an insertion product (Scheme 35) 322),... 

Methyl diazoacetate was obtained according to a procedure for ethyl diazoacetate (Searle, N.E. Org. Synth., Coll. Vol. A/1963, 42). Although the experiments were usually performed with distilled methyl diazoacetate (bp 43°C at 25 mm, bath temperature below 60°C) without any problems, the cyclopropanation reaction described works equally well with undistilled diazo compound. If distilled diazo compound is desired, the submitters have stated that "a spatula of K2CO3 Is added to the crude diazo ester to trap traces of add and then distill behind a safety shield . The checkers did not evaluate this aspect of the procedure. 

The cyclopropanation utilizing donor/acceptor rhodium carbenoids can be extended to a range of monosubstituted alkenes, occurring with very high asymmetric induction (Tab. 14.4) [40]. Reactions with electron-rich alkenes, where low enantioselectivity was observed at room temperature, could be drastically improved using the more hydrocarbon-soluble Rh2(S-DOSP)4 catalyst at -78°C. The highest enantioselectivity is obtained when a small ester group such as a methyl ester is used [40], a trend which is the opposite to that seen with the unsubstituted diazoacetate system [16]. 

Silyl enol ethers can also be used in the cyclopropanation reaction. Reissig showed that the reaction between methyl diazoacetate 53 and various enol ethers 52a-c using bu-box ligand 3 proceeded in moderate yields, as shown in Table 9.5 (Fig. 9.17fl), with trans/cis ratios up to 97 3 and ee between 32 and 49%. Pfaltz showed that cyclic enol ethers can be used as well." Cyclopentenyl enol ether 55 proceeded with methyl diazoacetate 53 and bu-box ligand 3 to afford the cyclopropanation products in 56% yield, a trans/cis ratio of 27 73, trans ee of 87% and cis ee of 92% (Fig. 9.11b, p. 544). 

A number of 2-acyI-l-chIoroethenes add to DPD in ether, losing HC1 spontaneously from the intermediate pyrazolines, and giving l/f-pyrazoles from rearrangement of the transient 3H isomers.50,60 The acid chloride 36 gives a small amount of a 3//-pyrazoIe 37 from reaction with two moles of methyl diazoacetate (Scheme 12).88... 

This sequence illustrates a very general method for the synthesis of methyl y-oxoalkanoates which are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis.3 6 The scope of the cyclopropanation reaction is very broad only functional groups interacting with the carbenoid generated from methyl diazoacetate are not compatible. Use of Rh2(OAc)4 instead of Cu(acac)2 as catalyst did not afford better yields.3 The cyclopropanation reaction has been performed with similar efficiency on scales from 4 mmol up to 500 mmol. 

With modified Aratani catalysts (2, R = Ph and A = CH2Ph), Reissig observed moderate enantioselectivities (30-40% ee for the trans cyclopropane isomer) for reactions between trimethylsilyl vinyl ethers and methyl diazoacetate [26], but vinyl ethers are the most reactive olefins towards cyclopropanation and also the least selective [30,31]. Other chiral Schiff bases have been examined for enantio-selection by using the in situ method for catalyst preparation that was pioneered by Brunner, but enantioselectivities were generally low [32]. 

As with the Aratani catalysts, enantioselectivities for cyclopropane formation with 4 and 5 are responsive to the steric bulk of the diazo ester, are higher for the trans isomer than for the cis form, and are influenced by the absolute configuration of a chiral diazo ester (d- and 1-menthyl diazoacetate), although not to the same degree as reported for 2 in Tables 5.1 and 5.2. 1,3-Butadiene and 4-methyl- 1,3-pentadiene, whose higher reactivities for metal carbene addition result in higher product yields than do terminal alkenes, form cyclopropane products with 97% ee in reactions with d-men thy 1 diazoacetate (Eq. 5.8). Regiocontrol is complete, but diastereocontrol (trans cis selectivity) is only moderate. 

Dioximato-cobalt(II) catalysts are unusual in their ability to catalyze cyclopropanation reactions that occur with conjugated olefins (e.g., styrene, 1,3-butadiene, and 1-phenyl-1,3-butadiene) and, also, certain a, 3-unsaturated esters (e.g., methyl a-phenylacrylate, Eq. 5.13), but not with simple olefins and vinyl ethers. In this regard they do not behave like metal carbenes formed with Cu or Rh catalysts that are characteristically electrophilic in their reactions towards alkenes (vinyl ethers > dienes > simple olefins a,p-unsaturated esters) [7], and this divergence has not been adequately explained. However, despite their ability to attain high enantioselectivities in cyclopropanation reactions with ethyl diazoacetate and other diazo esters, no additional details concerning these Co(II) catalysts have been published since the initial reports by Nakamura and Otsuka. 

Methoxycarbonylmetkylation.1 The reaction of silyl enol ethers of aldehydes or ketones with methyl diazoacetate [Rh2(OAc)4 or Cu(acac)2] forms silyloxycyclo-propanecarboxylates, which are opened by N(C2H5)3HF (aldehydes) or HC1 (ketones) to form a-methoxycarbonylmethylated aldehydes or ketones. 

The use of Rh2(5/ -MEPY)4 and Rh2(55-MEPY)4 for reactions with menthyl diazoacetates (MDA) also produces an enormous double diastereoselection not previously observed to the same degree in cyclopropanation reactions. With methyl propargyl ether, for example, Rh2(5/ -MEPY)4 catalyzed reactions of d-MDA yield 16 (R = CH3OCH2) in 98% diastereomeric excess (de), but /-MDA produces its diastereoisomer in only 40% de with Rh2(55-MEPY)4, /-MDA gives the higher de (98%) and d-MDA gives the lower de (43%). Similar results are obtained from reactions of MDA with 1-hexyne and 3,3-dimethyl-1-propyne. The diazocarboxylate substituent obviously plays a critical role in establishing the more effective carbene orientation for addition to the alkyne. 

A large variety of silyl enol ethers 96 has been transformed to the corresponding cyclopropanes 97 by reaction with methyl diazoacetate in the presence of copper catalysts (Eq. 28). Although at first the isolation of mainly ring-opened products had been reported 56), the preparation of methyl 2-siloxycyclopropanecarboxylates proceeds generally in very good yields (Table 2)57). 

The prostaglandin approach above (Eq. 29) also shows that the reaction with the carbenoid is compatible with further functions and even a second olefinic unit. However, this second double bond is left unattacked only because of its deactivation by the allylic siloxy group. Competition experiments have demonstrated that simple olefins like styrene or cyclohexene react with methyl diazoacetate under copper-catalysis in rates comparable to those of silyl enol ethers57). 

The addition of alkoxycarbonylcarbene derived by catalysed decomposition of methyl diazoacetate to several simple, and in particular terminal, alkynes leads to low yields S7), but the reaction with 1 -trimethylsilylalkynes proceeds reasonably efficiently subsequent removal of the silyl-group either by base or fluoride ion provides a route to l-alkyl-3-cyclopropenecarboxylic acids. In the same way 1,2-bis-trimethylsilyl-ethyne can be converted to cyclopropene-3-carboxylic acid itself58 . The use of rhodium carboxylates instead of copper catalysts also generally leads to reasonable yields of cyclopropenes, even from terminal alkynes 59). 

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